Lubricating device



Jan. 21, 1936. 5. 1.. MOORE ET AL ,LUBRICATING DEVICE Original Filed Dec. 15, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ri s IZSZeaZe. waww g- K Gear l f I l l l I l I I I l I I l I ll n- G. L. MOORE ET AL I LUBRICATING DEVICE Original Filed Dec. 13, 1932 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .ummr/ll/lllllllm nvlllI/IIII/l/I/l/l/l/(l,

1 v g'rvtn tom 0601296 I. Mara Patented Jan. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES LUB I AT G D V E George Loop Mooreand James Robert Steele,

' Owego, N.Y.

Continuation of application Serial No. 646,983, 1Decembo il-3. 21932- :This app December 1, 1932., SerialNo. 700,486

13 Claims.

This application is a continuation of our pending application, Serial No. 646,983, filed December 13, 1932.

Our invention relates to lubricating devices and more particularly to wheel flange and rail lubricators.

One object of our invention is toqprovide means for automatically supplying lubricant to the flanges of the Wheels of a railroad vehicle and the inner face of the head of a railroad track rail upon the passage of the wheels over .the rail.

Another object of our invention is toprovide a lubricating device which iseasily made to fit rails .of different size without altering the structure of the principal parts of said device, that is, with our invention a standard size lubricating device can be easily applied to rails of clifierent size.

The novel features of our invention will be more fully understood from the following description and claims taken with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a top plan view of a rail with a device embodying my invention applied there- Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1 the hand hole eover to the reservoir having been removed;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line, 3,3 of Fig. 1 the hand hole cover to the reservoir having .been removed;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, but showing the plunger depressed;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional viewpf the lnbricant distributing member;

Figs. 6 and 7 are views similar to Figs. 3 and 4, respectively, except they show our deyice ,attached to a smaller rail.

Figs. 8 and 9 are enlarged sectional views of modified nozzle members.

Referring to the drawings: I5 designates arail to which a lubricating device embodying our invention is shown attached by means of the clamps l6.

Our improved lubricating device, as shown in the drawings, comprises an oiler having an oil reservoir I8, which is connected to an oil supply tank, not shown, by any suitable means including the conduit l 9, and a member .26, comprising plunger operated means, which is shown connected to the reservoir !8 by the expansible rub- ,ber hose 2| and an oil distributing member 22.

. Referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings the supply conduit I9 is connected to the member H which extends into the reservoir Is and is provided with a valve 24 controlled by the fioat25 through the medium of the lever 26 fulcrumed on the member 21. A vent 23 is provided in the reservoir l8.

The member,26 comprises a body portion 30, having therein .a chamber 3l receptive of the reoiprocable piston 32 which is operated. in one direction by t e. p eer.33. A .spr naik spr vided to urge thepiston 32 and the plunger 33 towards their outermost positions. The distributing member 22, an enlarged view of which is shown in Fig. 5, comprises a nozzle member 36 detachably connected to the member 31 which is 5 connected to the member 26 by the conduit 38.

The passageway through the nozzle 36 is preferably of substantial length compared with the size of its lateral dimension and is substantially uniform throughout its length. The nozzle member 36 is arranged so that it may be easily removed and replaced when so desired by a similar nozzle having a smaller aperture therein as shown-in Fig. 9 or by a similar nozzle having a larger aperture therein as shown in Fig. 8.

The oiling device is shown mounted on supporting members 44, 45 and 4.6 which are so formed as to engage the particular size of rail to which the device is to be applied. The member 44, which is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, comprises 2 a pocket 41 receptive of the member and a pocket 48 receptive oi the conduit 2|. The

member 45, which is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,

comprises a pocket 49 for receiving one end of the reservoir member l8 and a pocket 56 for the conduit IS. The member 46, which is similar to 45, 1 except that 45 is a left hand member and 46 is a right hand member, supports the other end of the reservoir and the conduit 2 I".

V In Figs. 6 and 7 we show our oiling device supported on members 5| and 52 which are similar to 44 and 415, respectively, but which are adaptable for use with smaller rails. It will therefore be evident that our oiler is adaptable for attachmentto any size of rail by substituting the correct members for supporting the oiler without in any way changing the structure or the oiler itself.

It willbe manifest that member 20 and the members for supporting the reservoir can be made of such size and shape as to directly fit between the 0 head and base flange of the rail and engage the surfaces which are coplanar with the fishing surfaces .of the rail without the aid of an adapter 11 it is so desired.

The oiler is assembled with therail l5 by as- 45 sembling the supporting members 45 and 46 with the respective ends of the reservoir and assembling thesupporting member 44 with the member 20 and placing these supports into engagement with the rail I5. One of the clamps I6, which 50 comprises a member 5 and a resilient portion 55, an under rail portion and a toe portion 51, is placed with its portion 54 in engagement with the .ear-filL-which is formed on the reservoir member, and its toe portion beneath the rail, the resilient 55 portion 55 is then sprung so that the toe portion passes beyond theedge of the rail and upwardly intoengagement with the edge of the base flange of the rail, and another of the clamps I6 is placed with its portion. into engagement with the ear go The valve 2 1 and the float 25 are so arranged that the reservoir will not be completely filled with oil but will preferably only be filled to the extent shown in Fig. 2. Therefore under normal conditions there will preferably always be the air space shown above the oil level communicating with the atmosphere through the vent 23.

In operation, when a train passes over the rail IS, the flange of each wheel engages the plunger '33 and depresses it from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 4. The spring 34 returns the plunger to its normal position as soon 'as each car wheel passes thereover, so that it is in position to be depressed by each successive Wheel. The action of the wheel flanges upon the plunger 33 operates the piston 32 to transmit a percussive action upon the oil in the chamber 3|. The oil being practically incompressible seeks an exit from the chamber 3|, a portion of the oil passing through the nozzle 36 to the wheel flanges and onto the side of the rail head. However, due to the size of the aperture in the nozzle 36, compared to the size of the passage between the chamber 3| and the reservoir it, only a limited quantity of the oil displaced by the piston 32 during its downward stroke is initially forced through the nozzle 36, the remainder of the oil in the chamber 3i displaced by the piston being forced towards the reservoir l8, expanding the elastic rubber hose 2i to a certain degree. As soon as a car wheel passes over the plunger 33 the piston 32 is immediately returned to its normal position due to the action of the spring 3G thereon. This upward stroke of the piston 32 creates a subatmospheric condition in the cham- 7 ber 3i beneath the piston, and the rubber hose H which has been expanded by the on during the downward stroke of the piston 32 now contracts and assists in forcing the oil back into the chamber 3| and continues the flow of oil through the nozzle 35.

It has been found that the expansible hose 2! assists materially in the operation of the oiler as it speeds up the refilling of the chamber 3i after each successive stroke of the piston 32, which is very essential for efficient operation of the oiler when fast trains operate over the track where our device is installed.

As the supply of oil to the reservoir is float controlled no oil can be supplied thereto until the level of the oil in the reservoir falls below its normal level so as to permit the float 25 to operate the valve 26. Due to these features an oversupply of oil cannot be supplied to the reservoir I8 from the source of supply which would cause an abnormal distribution of oil to the wheel flanges.

It will thus be seen from the above description that we have devised a simple oiler which has the working parts reduced to a minimum and which governs the amount of discharged lubricant in a very simple manner without the aid of complicated valves.

While we have shown our invention in a plurality of forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and we desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art was are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

.chamber in communication with said reservoir and said distributing member, an expansible member connecting the chamber member and the reservoir, and a plunger member within said chambered member adapted, in service, to transmit a percussive action on the lubricant to force said lubricant from said distributing member, and means for automatically refilling said reservoir and said chambered member adapted to maintain a constant head of lubricant within said reservoir and said chambered member, whereby a predetermined quantity of lubricant is forced from the distributing member upon the operation of the plunger.

2. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail and connected to a source of lubricant supply, said lubricator comprising a lubricant reservoir, a lubricant distributing member, and a chambered member associated with said reservoir and said distributing member constantly in communication with said reservoir and said distributing member, an expansible member connecting said chambered member and the reservoir, means within said reservoir to maintain a substantially constant head of oil within said reservoir, and means reciprocatively mounted within said chambered member adapted in service to be operated by a wheel passing over the rail to transmit a percussive action to the surface of the lubricant and thereby force a prede termined quantity of lubricant from said dis tributing member.

3. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail, said lubricator comprising a lubricant reservoir, a lubricant distributing member, continuously open to the atmosphere, a plunger operated means, a housing for said means having a valveless chamber communicating with said reservoir and said distributing member, an expansible member connecting said reservoir and said chamber, said plunger operated means adapted, in service, to transmit a percussive action to the lubricant within said chamber to force the lubricant from said distributing member directly onto the car wheel flanges and means to retain a substantially constant head of lubricant within said reservoir to be acted upon by the plunger operated means, whereby a predetermined quantity of lubricant is distributed from the distributing member upon the operation of the plunger operated means.

4. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail, said lubricator comprising a lubricant reservoir, a distributing member and means associated with said reservoir and said member for producing a percussive action upon the lubricant to produce a flow of said lubricant to the rail upon the passage of a wheel thereover, an expansible member connecting said means and said reservoir, and means associated with said reservoir to retain a constant head of lubricant within said reservoir whereby a predetermined quantity of lubricant is distributed to the rail upon the operation of the first-mentioned means.

5. A rail and flange lubricator comprising an oil reservoir, a body member having a chamber therein, plunger operated means mounted within said body member, a plunger to operate said (5 means, a lubricant distributing member having a restricted outlet in constant communication with said chamber and the atmosphere, and expansible means communicating the chamber with the reservoir adapted in service to assist in filling the chamber in the. body member upon the return 01' the plunger to its normal position.

6. A lubricator comprising, a reservoir having an inlet and an outlet, means to supply a lubricant to said reservoir connected to said inlet, a float controlled valve governing said inlet, a chambered body member, having an inlet and an outlet, an expansible conduit connecting the first mentioned outlet with the last mentioned inlet, a plunger within said body member, a spring supporting said plunger, a nozzle attached to the outlet of said body member, supporting means detachably connected to said reservoir and said body member adapted to fit the surfaces of a railroad rail intermediate its head and base flange, and a clamping means for holding the lubricator into engagement with said rail.

7. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail and connected to a source of lubricant supply, said lubricator comprising a lubricant distributing member, a reservoir constantly in communication with said distributing member, plunger operated means intermediate said reservoir and said distributing member adapted to transmit a percussive action on the surface of the oil to force said oil from said distributing member and means within said reservoir for controlling the supply of lubricant to the reservoir from the source of supply whereby a substantially constant head of lubricant is maintained within said reservoir, and expansible means intermediate said reservoir and said distributing member to assist in forcing a supply of oil beneath the plunger, whereby a substantially constant flow of lubricant is discharged to the rail upon the passage of the wheels of a train thereover.

8. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail, said lubricator comprising a lubricant reservoir, means for connecting said reservoir to a source of lubricant supply, a distributing member in constant communication with said reservoir,. means associated with said reservoir for producing a percussive action upon the lubricant to produce a flow of lubricant to the rail upon the passage of the wheels of a train thereover, and means within said reservoir adapted to maintain a substantially constant head of lubricant within said reservoir and an expansible member intermediate said reservoir and the distributing member to assist in forcing a supply of lubricant beneath the percussive action producing means, whereby a substantially uniform flow of lubricant is distributed to the rail upon the operation of the percussive action producing means.

9. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail, said lubricator comprising a lubricant reservoir, a lubricant distributing member, a chambered member intermediate said reservoir and said distributing member, an expansible member connecting said reservoir to said chambered member operatable to assist in forcing lubricant into said chambered member and means reciprocatively mounted in the chambered member adapted in service to be operated by a wheel passing over the rail.

.member contracts and immediately distributes lubricant to said plunger housing.

11. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail, said lubricator comprising a lubricant reservoir, a lubricant distributing member having a restricted passageway therethrough, a chambered member intermediate said reservoir and said distributing member, plunger operated means within said chambered member, means comprising an expansible member having a passageway materially larger than the passageway in the. distributing member connecting the reservoir with the chamber member, whereby upon the downward operation of the plunger operated means by a car wheel passing over the rail a quantity of lubricant is forced through the distributing member and a quantity is forced into the expansible member thereby expanding said member, and upon the upward operation of the plunger operated means said expansible member contracts and causes the flow of the lubricant through the distributing member to continue.

12. A lubricator adapted to be mounted adjacent a rail, said lubricator comprising a. lubri cant reservoir, a lubricant distributing member having a restricted passageway therethrough, a chambered member intermediate said reservoir and said distributing member, plunger operated means within said chambered member, means comprising an expansible member having a passageway materially larger than the passageway in the distributing member connecting the reservoir with the chamber member, an air chamber above the oil in the reservoir, whereby upon the downward operation of the plunger operated means by a car wheel flange passing over the rail a quantity of lubricant is forced through the distributing member and a quantity of the lubricant in the chambered member is forced back into the expansible member, and the reservoir, thereby expanding the expansible member and compressing the air above the oil in the reservoir, and upon the upward operation of the plunger operated means, said expansible member contracts and forces a quantity of lubricant into the chambered member and a quantity of lubricant through the distributing member.

13. A lubricator for a rail comprising a lubricant reservoir, a lubricant distributing member having a restricted passageway therethrough a chambered member intermediate said reservoir and said lubricant distributing member, plunger operated means within said chamber member and an expansible member, operatable upon the operation of the plunger, connecting said reservoir and said chambered member.

GEORGE LOOP MOORE. JAMES ROBERT STEELE. 

